


shared spaces

by forbala



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Didn't Know They Were Dating, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, M/M, Making Out, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, personal bubble what personal bubble, sharing food
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29534895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forbala/pseuds/forbala
Summary: Months after the disaster of the Parnassus, the city is recovering. Lio has a good life going, with Galo and their friends at their sides. What Lio doesn't realize is how much has really changed.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 5
Kudos: 83





	shared spaces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [melliejellie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melliejellie/gifts).



> This is a few days late but it's here! Happy Valentine's Day! For my dear friend Mel who's helped me through some hard times during 2020-21. Thank you for being there, and thank you for requesting this! I had so much fun with it.

Months passed, slowly, at first, then faster. Promepolis was recovering, a little more each day, rebuilding and reconciling. Beyond the physical damage to the city, there was widespread psychological damage, and then there were the ex-Burnish. Lio had formed the Burnish Relief Fund to help ex-Burnish rebuild and establish themselves after...well, everything. It was hard work, but Lio was happy to do it. With Meis and Gueira beside him, they were helping their people build new lives.

Galo was immensely proud of his hard work. In fact, he wouldn’t shut up about it and his Burning Rescue teammates were very tired of it.

“Y’know, yesterday Lio told me abou—”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s great, so selfless, we know,” Varys cut him off, waving his hand. Galo pouted but he knew the protocol by now: drop it.

Lio obviously had no place to live, after the Parnassus crashed, nor any money to get a place, so Galo hadn’t hesitated. “You can live with me!” he offered.

“Galo, no, that’s too much.”

“No, it’s no problem! C’mon, Lio, it’ll be fun!”

It had taken a little more convincing, but he knew he had little choice, so Lio agreed. He moved in; it was easy, having no possessions but the torn clothes he wore. He’d never had the luxury of things.

The first night, Lio sat on the couch while Galo disappeared into his bedroom. When he reemerged carrying a blanket, Lio reached out for it.

“No, it’s not for you,” Galo said, holding the blanket to his chest. “You’re taking the bed. I just changed the sheets, so they’re all clean for you. I’m sleeping on the couch.”

“That’s ridiculous, this is  _ your  _ home. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Nope!” Galo’s grin was stupidly broad and bright. It made heat rise up in Lio’s chest— annoyance? “I put out some clothes you can sleep in, too, so go on. You can use the bathroom first too.”

Lio stood and stared up at the imbecile, who stared right back without flinching.

After several minutes of charged silence, Lio realized he wasn’t going to back down on this.

“Fine,” he snapped. He stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

This arrangement didn’t last long. The next night, Lio tried to switch with Galo and take the couch. “We can take turns, that’s completely fair,” he argued, but Galo wouldn’t have it. On the third night, Lio snapped. “This is stupid.”

“No way, Lio! You deserve the bed! I don’t need it.”

“Just… Come to bed. It’s big enough for both of us. We’ll share.”

Galo’s mouth opened in preparation to fight, but he stopped. “You want to share?” Lio nodded once. “Well, okay...sure! That’ll be great!”

And so, they shared.

Most mornings, they woke up tangled up together, but neither ever mentioned it. The first time, Lio had tried to quietly disentangle himself, but Galo, half-awake, had just held him closer. Lio hadn’t fought it since.

Lio wasn’t surprised at Galo’s generosity, nor even the cuddling, but what did surprise him was how neat and  _ clean _ the apartment was. Galo seemed like a typical frat boy; Lio expected mess and filth, but that wasn’t the case at all. Galo’s whole apartment was near pristine. He cleaned up immediately, never letting a mess sit for long. He made the bed each morning, scrubbed the shower each night, and vacuumed daily. In fact, Lio was the problem. He’d never had much need for cleaning up after himself, so he dropped his clothes on the floor instead of in the hamper, never took out the trash, and left water glasses on every flat surface, leaving Galo to go behind him and clean up.

Galo never complained, though. He didn’t even huff or frown.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lio demanded one day.

“Hm? What’d I do?” Galo’s brow furrowed in concern and Lio had to tamp down on that strange heat in his chest. Annoyance again. It caught him often.

“No, not you, it’s— I’m filthy and you just clean up after me with a  _ smile _ . Why aren’t you mad?”

“Why would I be mad?” The idiot looked genuinely confused. “I don’t mind cleaning! It’s relaxing.”

Lio could only throw up his hands.

A few days later, Lio came home with grocery bags. “I’m going to cook! I’m going to contribute to this household!” he announced.

Galo bounced into the small kitchen. “Really?! I didn’t know you cooked!”

“Well, someone has to. We can’t keep eating take out for every meal.”

So Lio unpacked his bags and spread out over the counter.

It didn’t go well.

He put way too much olive oil in the pan (the one and only pan Galo owned) so that when he put in the chicken breasts, the oil popped and splattered. While that cooked, he chopped vegetables, which...well. They were uneven, and he nearly cut off his finger three times in the process, but whatever. It was fine.

“Do you smell smoke?” Galo asked, rushing into the kitchen in a panic.

Lio turned and looked at his pan. It was billowing smoke, smelled foul, and the chicken looked far too crispy. “Shit!” he cursed, pulling the pan off the burner.

That was the last time he tried cooking.

Every morning, Galo drove the two of them to Burning Rescue, and then Lio took the bike to his office.. And each evening, Lio came and picked him up and drove them home.

“Good morning, boys!” Aina greeted them most mornings with a wave. Sometimes Lucia was there, more to capture Galo as a test subject than for any niceties. Varys was typically late and missed their arrival, but always bid them goodbye in the evenings. Remi and Ignis couldn’t seem to care less.

“It’s so cute that you two carpool,” Aina commented once.

“Burning Rescue is on the way to the Burnish Relief Fund offices, it only makes sense,” Lio answered, moving up to the driver’s position once Galo had dismounted. It felt good to drive a motorcycle, even without his Promare. It was one of the few things he had left from before.

“Still, it’s nice.”

Then, Galo turned to him and said, “Have a good day, Lio!” and dipped down,  _ kissing  _ Lio’s cheek. They both froze for a moment, and Lio saw Aina’s eyes were wide as saucers, but then the moment passed and they all relaxed.

“Don’t do something stupid,” he replied, then pulled out of the garage and into the street.

The kisses became a regular thing. At first, it was only Galo, and only on the cheek or maybe the top of Lio’s head. Galo kissed him often— when they parted in the morning, when they brought home dinner and Lio put the food on mismatched plates (leaving the styrofoam containers strewn on the counters), often accompanied with a happy, “Thanks, Lio!” Then Lio started kissing Galo goodbye, and not on the cheek. Just a friendly kiss on the mouth. Galo called them “bro kisses.” It made that flush of annoyance well up in Lio’s chest every time they kissed, but this was just how Galo expressed himself and Lio had acclimated to his idiosyncrasies.

One benefit was that the Burning Rescue team typically gave them space when arriving and departing since the kissing had started. Lio liked them, but he didn’t want to spend every waking moment with them, like Galo did. The weekly (or more frequent) dinners out were enough for him— at least Meis and Gueira were there, so he wasn’t surrounded by heroic types.

Neither of his generals— friends— had ever reacted to Galo kissing him. Or to Lio kissing Galo. Not even a shared look or raised brow. They completely failed to acknowledge it at all, in fact. Which just confirmed to Lio that this was normal behavior and he needn’t concern himself.

Meis and Gueira also gave no reaction to how close Lio and Galo sat. Lucia did, however. “Lio, do you need a booster seat?” she teased one night.

He bristled. “Thank you, no.”

“I just ask because you’re basically in Galo’s lap! We can get a booster seat if you want.”

Lio glared at her.

Lucia only laughed. “I wouldn’t want to get off those thick thighs either!”

Lio  _ wasn’t _ on Galo’s lap, but he made to move out of his space anyway, feeling shamed, until Galo put a hand on his hip to keep him close. So Lio stayed.

On that evening, Lio paid for dinner, which also seemed to entertain the firefighters, judging by the looks they often shared. Lio and Galo didn’t keep track of who paid for which meals, just alternated on no particular schedule. Galo might buy all their meals one day, Lio the next, or they’d buy different meals throughout the day. There was no point in tracking it, since they always ate together anyway. And they shared all their bills. They just shared everything, so why not this? Hell, half the time they shared the actual meal itself. Splitting the bill every time was just too much of a hassle.

One day, at one of their dinners, his friends and Galo beside him, Lio realized he was happy. For the first time in a long time, maybe his whole life. He had a place to live, he wasn’t running or fighting for his life, he had  _ friends _ , and he was helping people. This feeling was strange, unfamiliar, but good. He liked it. Imagine a former terrorist being so happy. It shouldn’t be allowed, yet here he was. He worried it wouldn’t last, but he was enjoying it too much to think too hard about it.

Lio went to pick Galo up from Burning Rescue, as he did every day. “Lio!” his friend called out. “Do you wanna go out to dinner?”

His teammates were gathered around him, looking at Lio and waiting for his answer. He shrugged. “Sure. Should I text Meis and Gueira?”

“Yeah, totally!”

So, a short while later, they found themselves sitting at their favorite pizza place. Aina was talking about an upcoming date, which Lio had no interest in and wasn’t listening to.

Varys nudged Galo with his shoulder. “What are you two doing for Valentine’s Day?”

“Hmf?” Galo mumbled around a mouthful of pizza. Lio looked at Varys in confusion.

“Yeah, where are you going? You could go to that fancy French place!” Aina chimed in.

“I don’t really think that’s their style,” Remi said. “Maybe an arcade.”

“Or you could go to a movie,” Varys added.

Galo swallowed his pizza and looked at Lio. "I mean, I don't have a date so we could hang out. Do you have a date, Lio?"

“No,” he said, blushing slightly. He could see where this was going.

Lucia made a noise. "What do you mean you don't have dates? You're each other's dates!"

Remi sighed. "You two have been dating for months," he said. Then, seemingly to himself, “They didn’t know.”

“Wait, hold on,  _ what?” _ Galo burst out. “What do you mean,  _ dating?” _

Aina gently laid her hand on Galo’s. “You live together. In a one bedroom apartment.”

“You’re always together,” Remi pointed out.

“And on top of each other!” Lucia sounded delighted.

“You kiss each other all the time. On the  _ mouth _ ,” Varys said.

“Did you...did you really not know, boss?” Meis asked. He looked astounded, while Gueira was holding back what promised to be a true laughing fit.

Lio put a hand on his face, dragged it down. “Galo, they’re right.”

“Wai— really?”

Lio nodded.

“I’m sorry! I forced you into this!”

“What are you talking about? You didn’t force me into anything.”

“I made you stay with me!”

“Don’t be an idiot. I participated too.”

Galo looked contemplative, a dangerous state. Lio needed to reign him in before his brain short-circuited. “We should go on a date. A real date.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

The smile Galo gave him was soft and shy and sparkling.

They went home that night consumed with awkwardness. Galo slept on the couch again, for the first time in months. “It wouldn’t be right to sl-sleep with you before our first date!” he argued. Lio huffed but let him. Galo was a gentleman, after all. But Lio barely slept. After spending months curled up with his brawny roommate, sleeping alone felt strange and cold.

Fortunately, the next day was Valentine’s Day. They went about their days as usual, but there was a layer of unfamiliarity hanging over them, as if they were strangers. When Lio dropped him off at the firehouse, Galo leaned in for a kiss, automatically, but caught himself halfway.

“Uh...bye, Lio! See you later!”

“...Right. Bye.”

Lio was distracted all day. For one thing, he couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss he missed. He wanted his kiss, damn it, and that fact made him angry. He wasn’t owed a kiss, but he’d gotten used to it and the absence left him feeling bereft.

He barely managed to get any work done, instead spending the whole day thinking of Galo and their upcoming dinner. He did call around to several restaurants and managed to get a last-minute reservation. It was a nice restaurant. Lio hoped that was okay; he didn’t want to make this more awkward than it already was, but wasn’t that what you were supposed to do? Lio didn’t exactly have experience in this.

At the end of the day, Lio picked Galo up and they went home as always. Only tonight, they changed into their best clothes. Galo looked good in a suit that perfectly framed his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Lio had never bothered to buy a suit, so he was limited to trousers and a dark blue collared shirt. He didn’t even have a sports coat.

“You look good!” Galo yelled at him, face flushed. Lio suppressed a laugh.

“Thank you. So do you.” The blush got deeper and Lio found he liked it. That familiar heat rose up in his chest— not annoyance, he realized now. Fondness, happiness, and an emotion he wasn’t ready to name.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Lio was happy to see it wasn’t  _ too _ fancy. It wasn’t outrageous.

The hostess welcomed them and led them to a table. “Can I start you with drinks? Wine, perhaps?”

Lio looked over at Galo. He looked so strange, all hesitant and unsure. It was so unlike him, it was unsettling.

Evidently, Lio would have to take charge for now. “Yes, a Cabernet.” When she’d gone, he turned back to Galo. “So...how was your day?”

“Good. We got recertified in CPR, so that took up a lot of the day. What about you?”

Underneath the table, Lio’s hands twisted together in his lap. Awkward, so awkward. “It was fine. I wrote some grant requests, reviewed some cases, you know, the usual.

“Meis and Gueira kept laughing at me, though. Bastards,” he muttered.

Galo snorted a laugh. “Yeah, they’re harsh. They don’t give you a break, do they?”

“Never!” Lio threw up his hands in indignation. “You would think they’d respect their boss a bit more.”

“You’re not as scary when you’re not on fire,” Galo teased.

“I hope that’s not a challenge, Galo. I can make your life hell.”

“Ah, you wouldn’t. You act mean, but you’re actually really nice.”

Now Lio was blushing. They stared at each other for a long, charged moment. And then Galo laughed, and Lio laughed.

“We’re being ridiculous,” Galo said. “I don’t know why we’re making this so weird.”

“Yeah. It’s not like we’ve never had dinner before.”

From then on, dinner went smoothly. They talked and laughed. They had wine, and fancy pasta, and they shared a cake. It was a normal night out.

Lio liked talking to Galo. He was stupid, but not really. He could read Lio like a book, picking up every minor tick in his face to read his mood. And he always made Lio laugh, and he always took care of him and made him feel valued. How had he not seen it sooner? Galo was the perfect boyfriend.

Lio kept thinking about it as Galo drove them home on the bike, with Lio’s arms wrapped around his waist. They parked the bike and hiked up to the third floor. And the moment the front door was shut behind them, Lio made his move.

Lio jumped, linking his hands behind Galo’s neck and wrapping his legs around his waist. Lio had a moment to appreciate Galo’s wide eyes and shock before he kissed him. Galo took a moment to respond, but when he did,  _ oh _ . His hands gripped Lio’s thighs, supporting him, and his lips moved against Lio’s, chasing after him when Lio made to pull away— so Lio leaned back in for more.

When they did finally part, both of them were panting for breath. Lio said, “Yes. Let’s do more of that. Take me to the bedroom.”

Galo nodded frantically and didn’t waste a moment. The next thing Lio knew, he was being dropped on the bed. He reached up, but Galo stayed out of his reach. “Come here,” he snapped.

Galo just shook his head. “Give me a second.”

His eyes were wide and lips parted and he looked amazed. Like he couldn’t believe what was happening. When he spoke again, his voice was soft, barely a whisper. “Lio...can I?”

“I want you to.”

With that permission, Galo got on the bed, hovering over Lio. Lio pulled him in again for a kiss and it was different from before. This time, Lio swiped his tongue over Galo’s lips, which parted for him without hesitation. Lio’s tongue pushed into Galo’s mouth, warm and wet and giving Lio so many ideas. His hands trailed down Gal’s back, but he couldn’t feel those glorious muscles beneath the damn suit coat. He pushed his hands up under the shoulders, pushing against the coat until Galo got the hint and sat back to strip it off and throw it into the corner. When he came back, Galo’s hands went to Lio’s waist, pushing up under his button-down and running his big hands over Lio’s stomach.

“Mm, Galo,” Lio moaned into his mouth. Lio started unbuttoning Galo’s shirt, and the evening devolved from there. Lio couldn’t get enough, like if he didn’t take everything  _ right then _ , he’d lose his mind. Galo had no trouble meeting his demands.

When they did finally sleep that night, they were curled up and tangled together, just like every night, and Lio had never been happier.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/forbala_)!


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